I questioned a few days ago about whether there is credibility in someones words despite them not being able to live by them themselves. This was in relation to Heidegger the career driven Nazi compared to someone like The Buddha. Yesterday I talked about how hard it can be to find sources of information and opinion that are contrary to yours but are credible, well researched and not based upon bias. In the end I decided against buying the book on Nietzsche and his take on contemporary society, not because of the topic but because I don’t know if I can trust the author not to waste my time. I haven’t given up on it and I may still one day but instead I stumped for Knut Hamsun’s Growth Of The Soil. I have only read one of his books before and that is Hunger, which is about the struggles of an impoverished writer trying to survive in late nineteenth century Oslo, Norway. It is a psychological journey through the irrational mind of someone enduring existence and I suspect there are certain autobiographical elements to it. It is an incredible story and I enjoyed it so much I decided not to rush into another of his books, instead spread them out and enjoy them as I felt right. Knut Hamsun won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1920 and from that one book alone I can see why.
Knut Hamsun though is an incredibly divisive figure. At the turn of the century influenced by what he saw as British aggression and Imperialism he developed a strong support for Germany and Germanic culture, supporting them in both the First and Second World Wars. Despite being eighty years old at the outbreak of the Second World War he managed to get an audience with Hitler and thoroughly pissed him off through his obstinate old man behaviour, and in attempting to get him to release imprisoned Norwegians. He did through write a eulogy for Hitler after his death and was going to be tried for treason after the war but it was decided his behaviour had been down to the mentally debilitating affects of age. Understandably he has been a divisive figure in Norway ever since and I directly quote from a Norwegian biographer on Wikipedia; “We can’t help loving him, though we have hated him all these years … That’s our Hamsun trauma. He’s a ghost that won’t stay in the grave”. This then is the next level of the dilemma, to read and love an author despite him being a total Nazi. Well seeing as I bought his book this morning it’s pretty clear how I feel about it. Sometimes it’s all about the literature. When it suits me at least.
Observations and Misunderstandings 